Maaf, ini dari sumber lain (Gatra), terkait dengan berita yang ditanyakan
Vavai
http://www.vavai.com/blog/index.php
Sang Milyuner Penyiksa Pembantu
Varsha Mahender Sabhnani & Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani (Newsday/Howard
Schnapp)Hingga Kamis petang pekan lalu, Nung dan Samirah masih
beristirahat di Rumah Sakit Pusat Universitas Nassau, New York. Setumpuk
pakaian baru terlihat di meja dekat tempat tidur mereka masing-masing.
"Sudah tidak terlihat bekas luka di tubuh mereka. Semua tampak bersih
dan terpelihara baik," kata Trie Edi Mulyani, Konsul Jenderal RI di New
York yang berhasil menjenguk mereka.
Kedua warga Indonesia yang dirawat itu adalah korban penganiayaan yang
terjadi di New York. Kisah sedih yang menimpa tenaga kerja wanita (TKW)
Indonesia ini terungkap ketika Samirah terlihat mondar-mandir di depan
kedai roti Dunkin Donuts, Ahad pekan lalu. Tentu saja gerak-gerik wanita
tua itu mengundang kecurigaan Reid Saint-Aime, karyawan kedai yang masuk
pagi. Ketika ditanya, Samirah tidak mengucapkan satu kata pun. Samirah
terlihat gelisah. Dia semakin merapatkan handuk yang dikenakan
menyelimuti tubuh.
Setelah mengajaknya masuk ke dalam kedai, Reid memberinya kopi dan
segenggam roti bagel. Samirah menyeruput sedikit kopi panas itu dan
mengenakan jaket yang ditawarkan Adrian Mohammad, Manajer Dunkin Donuts.
"Saya tanya pakai bahasa Spanyol, /nggak/ bisa menjawab juga," tutur Adrian.
Namun, ketika disebut /home/ atau /work,/ barulah Samirah menjawab: /"No
home, my home is mister/," sambil memberikan isyarat bahwa ia sering
digebuki. Ia menyebut /home/ sambil mengeluarkan paspor Indonesia yang
disembunyikan di dalam saku celananya. Adrian pun mengontak petugas
kepolisian, dan terbongkarlah kasus penganiayaan itu.
Di Hari Ibu itu, Samirah kabur dari rumah majikannya sekitar pukul 12
malam. Ia mengatakan tidak kuat menanggung derita. Selama lima tahun
mengabdi sebagai pembantu rumah tangga, Samirah senantiasa dianiaya
pasangan Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51 tahun, dan Varsha Mahender
Sabhnani, 45 tahun.
Pasangan berdarah India yang mengambil Samirah langsung dari Indonesia
itu bisa disebut "raja dan ratu tega". Mereka sangat ahli dalam pelbagai
jenis aniaya. Mulai menyiramkan air panas, memukuli korban dengan benda
tajam, hingga menyundutkan rokok pernah dilakukan terhadap Samirah,
wanita paruh baya itu.
Stasiun televisi /CW11/ New York mempertontonkan luka di kuping bagian
belakang, lengan, dan punggung Samirah. Bahkan di laci dapur terlihat
peralatan untuk menyiksa, seperti palu, gunting, pisau, dan benda tajam
lainnya. Yang lebih gila, menurut pengakuan Samirah seperti dikutip
dalam dakwaan jaksa, kedua majikannya itu tidak segan-segan menghukum
bila ia membuat kesalahan, seperti menghilangkan benda milik Varsha atau
dituduh mencuri uang.
Untuk itu, Samirah diharuskan naik-turun tangga 150 kali. Belum lagi
diminta telanjang bulat dan disuruh mandi 30 kali dalam jangka waktu
empat jam sekali. Jenis penganiayaan yang kelewatan adalah diminta
mengunyah 25 biji cabe sambil dipelototi majikannya. Ketika diinterogasi
lebih lanjut, Samirah menuturkan bahwa ada satu lagi pembantu lain yang
masih tinggal di rumah majikannya.
Dia adalah Nung. Wanita muda asal Indonesia ini ditemukan berada di
dalam kloset berukuran kecil di bawah tangga rumah mewah, beralamat di
Coachman Place East Nomor 205, di kawasan East Muttontown, Long Island,
New York. Berdasarkan aturan majikannya, para pembantu harus berada di
gudang kecil itu bila mengaso atau ada tamu.
Selebihnya? Ya, melayani tuan rumah mulai pukul lima pagi hingga pukul
12 malam. "Kami hanya boleh tidur tiga jam sehari di atas kasur tipis di
dapur," tutur Samirah, seperti dikutip dalam dakwaan jaksa. Samirah juga
mengaku tidak diizinkan keluar rumah kecuali malam hari di saat membuang
sampah.
Imbalan yang didapat hanya US$ 100. Bukan US$ 600 seperti dijanjikan di
Indonesia dulu. Itu pun konon dikirim majikannya ke salah satu
saudaranya di Indonesia. Dibandingkan dengan rata-rata pembantu rumah
tangga yang minimal bertarif US$ 6 per jam, imbalan untuk Samirah jauh
di bawah standar upah minimum Amerika. Samirah tidak bisa berbuat banyak
lantaran diancam akan diadukan ke polisi akibat paspor dan visa turisnya
habis masa berlakunya tiga tahun silam.
Kasus memilukan yang antara lain menjadi laporan utama tabloid /Newsday/
ini bisa disebut sebagai kasus "perbudakan di zaman modern". Bagaimana
tidak, seperti kata penuntut umum federal Demetri Jones, "Tidak seorang
pun yang pernah berpikir ada orang yang membawa manusia untuk dijadikan
budak dan disiksa di rumah mewah di kawasan elite di Long Island."
Bagi Nung dan Samirah, rumah mewah bernilai jutaan dolar itu adalah
"rumah horor" yang sulit dilupakan. Pasangan suami-istri Mahender, warga
Amerika Serikat, adalah pasangan milyuner. Mereka sukses sebagai
produsen parfum Royal Mirage, yang kondang di komunitas India dan salah
satu distributor minyak wangi sejagat.
Akibat perbuatan mereka, pasangan Mahender terancam hukuman 17 hingga 22
tahun penjara. Menghadapi ancaman itu, Charles Ross, pengacara Vasha,
membantah kliennya mengurung dua pembantu asal Indonesia tersebut.
"Bagaimana mengurung pembantu, bila keluarga Mahender berlibur 10 hari,
para pembantu itu bisa bebas keluar ke mana pun," ujarnya. Sedangkan
pengacara Mulidhar membela bahwa kliennya tidak terlibat penganiayaan
sedikit pun.
"Raja dan ratu tega" itu menghadapi sidang pertama yang isinya mendengar
tuduhan jaksa. Dalam sidang yang berlangsung di gedung pengadilan
distrik di Central Islip, New York, itulah hakim juga menentukan berapa
besar uang jaminan agar mereka dapat menjalani tahanan luar sampai
persidangan kasus penganiayaan digelar.
Bagaimana nasib Nung dan Samirah? Setelah dirawat di rumah sakit, mereka
akan dititipkan di salah satu komunitas yang ditunjuk untuk memelihara
para korban penganiayaan di New York. "Mereka akan dititipkan di sana
sampai proses pengadilan usai," tutur Trie Edi Mulyani, yang biasa
dipanggil Niniek.
Diplomat wanita ini ingin meyakinkan pula bahwa pihaknya bisa
menghubungi kedua wanita warga negara Indonesia itu setiap waktu.
"Mereka berjanji, kami bisa punya akses," kata Niniek, yang menunggui
Nung dan Samirah sejak pagi hingga malam di rumah sakit.
Kasus buruh dan perdagangan seks memang sering terjadi di New York.
Maklum, negara bagian ini baru pekan lalu menerapkan sanksi keras bagi
pelanggarnya. "New York akhirnya bergabung dengan negara bagian lain
menerapkan hukuman berat," ujar Gubernur New York, Eliot Spitzer.
Setiap pelaku perdagangan seks akan dikenai hukuman tiga sampai 25 tahun
penjara, sedangkan pelaku perdagangan buruh dihukum tiga sampai tujuh
tahun. Tercatat 17.000 orang diselundupkan ke Amerika Serikat setiap
tahun untuk dipekerjakan sebagai buruh atau pekerja seksual.
*Didi Prambadi (Philadelphia)*
[*Internasional*, /Gatra/ Nomor 28 Beredar Kamis, 24 Mei 2007]
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: {Disarmed} Re: {Disarmed} [Forum-Pembaca-KOMPAS] FW: Two
Indonesians held Captive and Tortured for Years in Long Island, NY
Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 07:13:40 +0700
From: Muhammad Rivai Andargini <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
References:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Ini benar. Beritanya malah sudah beredar sejak pekan lalu.
Vavai
Jeannie Kiagoes wrote:
>
> Mungkin agak terlambat karena terselip di antara emails lainnya...
>
> Mohon pencerahan apakah berita terlampir benar atau hanya hoax belak?
>
> Terimakasih.
>
> Faithfully Yours,
> Ms. Jeannie Kiagoes
>
> ____________ _________ _________ __
>
> From: Diana Sabidi
> Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 1:51 PM
> Subject: Two Indonesians held Captive and Tortured for Years in Long
> Island, NY
>
> Kok belum ada beritanya di media lokal kita ya? Trafficking on women
> nih. Kasihan.
>
> <javascript: SLIDES.hotlink( )>
>
> http://www.nytimes. com/2007/ 05/16/nyregion/ 16slave.html
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/nyregion/16slave.html
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/nyregion/16slave.html>>
> <http://www.nytimes. com/2007/ 05/16/nyregion/ 16slave.html
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/nyregion/16slave.html
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/nyregion/16slave.html>>>
>
> http://www.nypost. com/seven/ 05162007/ news/regionalnew s/cruel_l_
> i__slave_
>
<http://www.nypost.com/seven/05162007/news/regionalnews/cruel_l_i__slave_
<http://www.nypost.com/seven/05162007/news/regionalnews/cruel_l_i__slave_>>
> masters_regionalnew s_stefanie_ cohen__kieran_ crowley_and_
> kate_sheehy. htm?
> page=0
>
> May 16, 2007 -- A "monstrous" millionaire couple from Long Island's Gold
> Coast kept two Indonesian women as slaves for five years in their tony
> estate-turned- house of horrors - until one victim was found wandering
> the street half-naked this week muttering, "Master," authorities said
> yesterday. Varsha Mahender Sabhnani and her husband, Mahender Murliddhar
> Sabhnani - perfume moguls from the mega-rich community of Muttontown -
> were hauled into federal court yesterday to face charges including
> beating, cutting and scalding one of the victims and committing
> "incomprehensible . . . inhumanity" against both.
>
> "Home, I want to go home," sobbed one of the middle-aged women,
> identified as "Samirah," when she was found bruised and battered at a
> Dunkin' Donuts on Jericho Turnpike in Syosset at around 6 a.m. Sunday.
> Less than a mile away, authorities said, was what had become her hell on
> earth: an antiques-stuffed, cedar-shakers mansion where she was beaten
> with brooms and rolling pins, repeatedly sliced on the ears with a
> paring knife, starved and forced to sleep on the kitchen floor.
>
> Varsha - a 45-year-old mother of four - was the main torturer who doled
> out the horrific punishment while her husband, 51, watched, officials
> said. The wife is Indonesian; Mahender is from India. Varsha's cruelty
> included forcing Samirah to take as many as 30 ice-cold showers in a
> row, run up and down a flight of stairs 150 times as fast as she could -
> and gulp down at least 25 "extremely hot chili peppers at one time,"
> according to the arrest warrant.
>
> "The conduct the defendants committed is monstrous," said Assistant U.S.
> Attorney Demetri Jones. "It's truly a case of modern-day slavery."
> Authorities said the victims' nightmare began after they were brought to
> the United States by the couple to work as house servants. They were
> told they would be paid $200 a month, although Samirah told authorities
> she later learned the Sabhnanis sent only half that amount to her
> daughter back in Indonesia.
>
> The immigrant women arrived to find their new home, 205 Coachman Place,
> a sprawling, two-story manse in one of New York's most exclusive
> enclaves. Two large, stone statues of lions greet visitors at the
> driveway, a brand-new black Cadillac sits in front and a large,
> lagoon-like pool, waterfall and built-in stainless-steel barbecue grill
> grace the back yard.
>
> Their new bosses ran a multimillion- dollar business from home, peddling
> Royal Mirage perfume throughout the world through at least five
> companies. The Sabhnanis also own a $1.4 million, two-bedroom condo on
> Broadway in Manhattan and were known to frequently jet to such countries
> as Singapore, Bahrain and Australia for business and to visit family.
> But if the victims - ages 51 and 46 - had dreams of partaking in even a
> smidgen of their employers' good life, they were sorely mistaken,
> officials said.
>
> The Sabhnanis demanded the pair's passports as soon as they set foot in
> the country, the victims told authorities. They then began working
> 21-hour days as house servants, and when they were allowed to sleep for
> the remaining three hours in the day, it was on thin, 3-by-6-foot white
> mats on the floor of one of the home's two kitchens, the women said.
> Beatings were routinely administered either in the laundry room or
> bathroom, they said, with "a rolling pin, bamboo stick and a
> broomstick." Samirah said Varsha also tossed scalding water on her.
>
> The feds noted in court papers that Samirah "bears highly visible scars
> that appear to be permanent over much of her body. "She also has deep,
> open knife wounds behind her ears, which were inflicted by [Varsha]."
> Samirah also showed cops at the house "a door stained with [her] blood
> that was the result of an injury sustained during a beating" by Varsha,
> according to court papers. The abused women were starved to the point
> that they began hiding food, authorities said. The second victim,
> identified only as "Nona," led authorities to the spot above a
> drop-ceiling panel in one of the kitchens where she stashed her meager
> but treasured personal belongings, as well as snacks she could sneak
> from the kitchen.
>
> Nona told authorities she was once forced to strip naked and take as
> many as 10 icy showers in a row for "perceived wrongdoing." She said
> that at one point, Varsha warned her that if she ever tried to flee, she
> would "use her considerable financial resources to ensure that
> Indonesian police jailed [her] and [her] husband, who is in Indonesia."
> Whenever strangers came to the home, the terrified women said, they were
> ordered to hide in the basement or garage.
>
> They were allowed out only at night - to take out the garbage.
>
> After Samirah was found wandering and told authorities her tale,
> officials went to the house and discovered Nona cowering in a
> 3-by-3-foot closet under the stairwell leading to the basement. Samirah
> was dressed in pants and a towel, weeping and carrying two plastic bags,
> when Dunkin' Donuts manager Adrian Mohammed, 26, spotted her early
> Sunday. He said he thought she was homeless, so he gave her coffee,
> bagels and a jacket.
>
> Asked where she lived, she pointed to her Indonesian passport - which
> Varsha had allegedly returned to her after it expired - and pleaded,
> "Home." "She started crying," Mohammed said, and when he asked where she
> lived, she pointed in the direction of the Sabhnanis' home and said,
> "Master." "She said the word, 'Master,' then she made a motion like she
> was getting slapped," Mohammed said yesterday.
>
> He said she had dozens of perfectly circular bruises on her arm, like
> pinches. Her ears also had sores and cuts from what authorities said was
> more of Varsha's cruelty: nicking her with a paring knife when she was
> deemed particularly "bad" - suspected of stealing food because she was
>
> hungry or unable to find an item around the house. "I felt bad for the
> lady, so I called 911," Mohammed said.
>
> At the Sabhnanis' arraignment in Central Islip yesterday, the couple sat
> together - but with separate lawyers. As the pair sat down and looked
> back at their 22-year-old daughter in the third row, the young woman
> burst into tears. The couple was held without bail after Jones argued
> that they were an extreme flight risk, given their international
> connections and bank accounts. Mahender's lawyer, Charles Ross,
> insisted, "This is not a human-trafficking ring. My client wants to
> clear his name." He said the couple had been out of the country for up
> to 10 months at a time, leaving the alleged victims plenty of
> opportunity to leave the house if they wanted.
>
>
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